Visual FoxPro - Vista Compatibility
|
|
 |
| Problem Reports:
Reports are coming in that applications created with
Visual FoxPro versions prior to VFP 9.0 may experience
problems running in the new Microsoft Windows Vista
operating system. |
| Purpose: The
purpose of this discussion is to describe the potential
problem and to suggest possible solutions for VFP
developers who may need to take action. |
|
We are bringing this potential
problem to your attention now because if applications
that you created in pre-VFP 9.0 versions of Visual
FoxPro will not run correctly in Vista, you may need to
take action immediately. |
|
|
|
|
Recently, we were contacted by a long-time VPM user who is still selling
an application that he created years ago with Visual ProMatrix 5.0 and
Visual FoxPro 5.0. One of this developer’s customers has reported
problems running the VFP 5.0 application in Windows Vista. It appears
that this VPM developer will need to upgrade his VFP 5.0 application to
VFP 9.0 as quickly as possible so that customers who begin using Vista
will be able to continue using the developer’s application.
|
|
Because Vista is very new and complex, it's not really possible to gauge
the full extent of the VFP - Vista compatibility issues at this time.
However, there do appear to be compatibility issues with earlier
versions. Only time will tell how extensive the compatibility issues
might be. |
Microsoft Position On Compatibility
|
|
Microsoft has acknowledged that Visual FoxPro 9.0 is the only VFP version
that they have found to be 100% compatible with Vista (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb330856.aspx). |
|
MS has tested VFP 8.0 with Vista and has reported that they have found
compatibility issues. MS has not tested earlier versions of VFP because
MS no longer supports VFP versions earlier than VFP 8.0.
|
| MS may or may not fix compatibility issues with VFP 8.0 running in
Vista. However, Microsoft says that given that support for VFP 8.0 will
be expiring in April 2008, Microsoft strongly recommends upgrading
to VFP 9.0 SP1. |
| Tip: We have even seen reports
of compatibility issues between VFP 9.0 applications and Vista. However,
Microsoft has promised to deal with VFP 9.0 - Vista incompatibilities. |
|
ProMatrix has not tested earlier versions of VPME applications running in
Vista. Like MS, we do not provide updates and fixes for earlier VPME
versions. Further, any compatibility issues that do exist will be
between Visual FoxPro and Vista, not Visual ProMatrix and Vista. |
Need to Keep Current
|
|
VFP and Vista compatibility problems appear to get worse the earlier the
VFP version in which an application is created. For example,
applications created in VFP 6.0 apparently experience more problems than
those created in VFP 8.0. |
|
We know that many Visual FoxPro and Visual ProMatrix users still have
applications in use that were created in pre-VFP 9.0 versions of Visual
ProMatrix. While Microsoft and ProMatrix have always recommended keeping
your applications up-to-date with new VFP and VPM releases, many VFP
developers have had the philosophy that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix
it.” |
|
As fast as technology changes these days, the “if it ain’t broke, don’t
fix it” philosophy is almost certain to lead to crisis. We saw a similar
crisis in the 1990’s when developers were forced to convert their FoxPro
DOS apps to FoxPro for Windows. Many developers went out of business
because they did not convert to Windows soon enough. |
|
It’s far better to climb the occasional hills involved in keeping
applications upgraded to the latest releases of your application
development tools and operating systems than to be forced to scale the
mountain that suddenly appears when your tools become obsolete. |
Suggested Solutions
|
|
If you have pre-VFP 9.0 applications in use and if it would present a
problem for you if those applications couldn’t run in Vista, you need to
do something now because your customers and/or people in your
organization will be buying new computers with Vista or will be
upgrading to Vista. Those folks won’t be happy if they find that your
applications do not run properly in Vista. |
|
Obvious Solution: The obvious
solution to the potential problems that earlier-version VFP applications
may encounter with Vista is to convert the applications to VFP 9.0.
There’s no other way to be 100% sure that pre-VFP 9.0 applications will
run under Vista. |
|
It will take some time to convert your applications to VFP 9.0. So, you
need to get started now if you want to be able to respond quickly if an
application user reports that your application has problems running in
Vista. |
|
Suggestion for Current VPME 9.0/9.1 Users |
|
If you already have VPME 9.0 or 9.1 but have not
updated your pre-VFP 9.0 apps to one of those VPME versions, what are
you waiting for? Get started now. If you are a ProMatrix Partner, you
can obtain application update assistance from ProMatrix through the
ProMatrix Partner Newsgroups. |
|
Solution for Users of Earlier VPME Versions
or Non-VPME VFP Developers |
|
If you don’t have VPME 9.0 or 9.1, you can purchase a
VPME 9.1.11 license. See VPM Enterprise
Pricing and Purchasing. |
| |
